Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales Part A

Bluejay and His Companions by Stith Thompson

Fat Seal (Wikimedia)

The story begins as four seal hunters go out on their canoe to hunt for seals. This is a daily tradition for them, for it is their profession. They all live in a house together with one more person, Grouch, who makes the canoes for them. Although he makes the canoes for them, the others bully him and give him the lean parts of the seal, for he is not good enough for the fat parts of the seal. Grouch said nothing for quite some time, but eventually he decided to get revenge. He created a seal made out of wood and spoke to it. He commanded it to allow itself to be speared but to draw the canoe out into the middle of the ocean without land in sight. 

So, the next day, the seal hunters went out and saw a large seal. They speared it, but the seal began to swim out into the middle of the ocean for three whole days. When the seal finally stopped, the seal hunters looked into the water and saw the seal made out of wood. They knew that Grouch was behind this and began to paddle back to shore. However, they didn't know where the shore was. They paddled and paddled, but they saw no end in sight. Eventually, they found land, but it wasn't where they came from.
They came upon a village, and the village challenged them to a climbing contest. Bluejay represented the seal hunters, for he was the best climber. The rules of the contest were to climb up to the top of the pole first, and whoever got there first was able to strike the other competitor in the back of the head, causing them to fall to the ground. If Bluejay was to win, he and his companions would be set free, but if the village were to win, the seal hunters would be killed. Bluejay won the climbing contest and the seal hunters were set free. 

The hunters took their canoe and found another island. The people on that island challenged them to a diving contest against their best diver. The seal hunters came up with a plan to hide Bluejay under a canoe for the contest, so that he could win. The plan worked, and Bluejay struck the diver in the back of the head and he rose to the surface. The seal hunters left again, unscathed.

The hunters went to another island that challenged them to another competition. All of the seal hunters were to sit inside a hot room against four of the village people to see who could withstand the heat. The eight men got inside the room and it was completely dark. Two of the seal hunters dug a hole out to the river and the seal hunters escaped into the river, then came back when the competition was nearing to an end. They came back refreshed, while the other four men were exhausted from the heat. Their eyes had turned white! 

The hunters went to another island that challenged them to stay awake for four days against their men. The other men had spears that they would poke each other with to stay awake. Bluejay and the four village men spoke to each other from across the wall to make sure that they all stayed awake. Two of the seal hunters dug a hole for their escape, for there was no way to win this competition. They found pieces of wood that looked like them with spots that looked like eyes. The hunters left the spotted wood pieces in their place when they made their escape. The village men called over to Bluejay but heard no response. They went over to where the hunters had been and speared what was there, but then they realized that they had speared blocks of wood. They became angry and the village began to chase after the hunters in canoes.

The hunters were paddling as fast as they could, but they broke all of their paddles from paddling so hard. The village was catching up very quickly, so the hunters called upon their tamanous, their spirits from above. One of their tamanous did nothing. The other tamanous made the wind a little stronger. The final tamanous caused a huge storm that quickly passed. After the storm had passed, it revealed that all of the village people had died. All that remained were their canoes.

The hunters finally came back to their island, the one that they lived at. Ever since then, they gave Grouch the fattest parts of the seal.